Memories in the Cooking

This is a easy and delicious starter. Goes well with my husband's homemade focaccia bread.   Ingredients:  - 200g of smoked salmon (around 2 packets)  - 200g of cream cheese  - juice of 1 lemon, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a bunch of basil leaves, garlic (blend)  - 2 cucumber, diced  - 2 tablespoons of thick cream or yogurt  - black pepper  Procedures:  1) Chop smoked salmon finely.  2) Add cream cheese to salmon. Mix well.  3) Blended mix of lemon juice, olive oil, basil leaves and garlic. Add to salmon and cream cheese. Mix well.  4) Add diced cucumber. Mix well.  5) Add thick cream/yogurt to the preferred consistency.  6) Add freshly grated black pepper. Enjoy! 

Here is another recipe I got from Xiaohongshu. It is refreshing and delicious.  Ingredients:  - 30 prawns, deshelled  - 1 packet of tang hoon - 1 large red onion, sliced  - 1 cucumber, sliced  - parsley, chopped  - garlic, chopped  - 3 lemons/lime, juiced (save a few slices as garnish)  - 2 tablespoons of fish sauce  - 1 bottle of sprite  - salt, sugar, rice vinegar to adjust taste Procedures: 1) Blanch prawns and tang hoon in boiling water.  2) Add blanched prawns, tang hoon, red onions, cucumber, parsley, garlic, lemon/lime juice, lemon/lime slices, fish sauce, sprite to a mixing bowl. Mix well.  3) Add salt, sugar or rice vinegar to adjust the taste.  4) Chill on fridge for one hour. Serve. 

I saw this recipe on Xiaohongshu. It turned out very delicious and easy.  Ingredients:  - 1kg of chicken mid wings  - cloves of garlic (quantity as desired)  - 1 can of coke  - 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce  - salt and sugar (to adjust the taste)  - white sesame seeds and parsley  Procedures: 1) In a frying pan, brown some garlic cloves.  2)Add chicken wings and brown them.  3) Add a can of coke and oyster sauce. Let it simmer until the sauce is reduced.  4) Add sesame seeds and parsley. Serve. 

Typically, we will cook traditional dishes during Chinese New Year. This year, we had this new dish to our addition.  Ingredients:  - 1kg of abalones with shells. Cleaned, removed the intestines, scored.  - 3 packets of enoki mushrooms - 3 tablespoons of chopped garlic - 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil - 1 teaspoon of salt  - 3 tablespoons of parmesan cheese  - 1 teaspoon of sugar - some pepper Procedures: 1) Combine chopped garlic, oil, salt, parmesan cheese, salt, sugar and pepper into a paste.  2) Place the enoki mushrooms on a baking tray. Add 1/3 of the paste. Mix well.  3) Place the abalone shells on top of the enoki mushrooms.  4) Spread the paste on top of every abalone.  5) Baked in the oven at 180 degree celsius for 15 mins. Garnish with parsley. Serve. 

This is the first dish we tasted from Xiang Xiang Hunan Restaurant and it is surprisingly nice!  Ingredients: - 4 century eggs  - 2 brinjals - 3-4 Hunan green peppers - 1 tablespoon of light soya sauce - 1 tablespoon of sesame oil  - 1 tablespoon of black vinegar  - 1 teaspoon of sugar  - 1 teaspoon of minced garlic  Procedures: 1) Dry-fry/grill green peppers and brinjal until the skin is black and the pepper/brinjal is soft.  2) Peel off the skin of the green pepper/brinjal. Place it in the mortar.  3) Cut the century eggs into small pieces. Place it in the mortar.  4) Add sesame oil, black vinegar, sugar, light soya sauce and minced garlic.  5) Use a pestle to grind the mixture into a paste.

This is currently my family's favourite stew. My elder boy even attempted to make his own kimchi so that he can enjoy all kimchi-related dishes, especially this stew.  Ingredients:  - Half a packet of kimchi (around 100g) with the kimchi juice (half a cup)  - Baby cabbage (around 250g)  - 1 tray of shabu shabu pork belly (around 300g)  - 1 large tablespoon of Gochujang  - 2 blocks of soft tofu  - 2 to 3 uncooked eggs  - salt, sugar  Procedures:  1) In a pot, add kimchi, cabbage, kimchi juice and Gochujang. Add enough water to cover the ingredients. Let the ingredients boil until the cabbage is soft.  2) Add pork belly to the stew. When cooked, add water, salt and sugar according to own's preference.  3) Slice the 2 soft tofu and place them on top of the pot. Let it simmer until the tofu is cooked.  4) Crack a few eggs on top of the stew. Let the stew simmer until the eggs are cooked to own's preference. 

This is a new dish that I had learnt for my Korean feast.  Ingredients: - 1kg of pork belly  - 1 tablespoon of instant coffee  - 1 tablespoon of Korean Deonjang  - 1 tablespoon of sugar  - 6 cloves of garlic - 4 slices of ginger - 1 stalk of spring onion  Procedures: 1) Place the washed pork belly in a big pot. Add instant coffee, Deonjang, sugar, garlic, ginger, spring onions.  2) Add water until it just covers the pork belly.  3) Boil the mixture of 1 hour.  4) Slice the pork belly and serve with the reduced sauce. 

We first tried this at Xiang Xiang Hunan Cuisine Restaurant. I found the chinese peppers at Sheng Siong and decided to buy some back to try.  Ingredients: - about 6 Chinese peppers  - pork collar sliced - 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce - 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce  - 1 tablespoon of minced garlic  - 1 teaspoon of corn starch  Procedures:  1) Cut the Chinese peppers into bite-sizes and remove the seeds.  2) Marinate the pork collar with corn starch and soya sauce.  3) In a fry pan, dry fry the Chinese peppers until fragrant.  4) Add oil, minced garlic and pork slices. Stir fry until cooked.  5) Add oyster sauce to season. 

My elder boy likes to eat kimchi so much that we decided to make our own.  Ingredients: - 1 head of napa cabbage (more than 1.2kg), cut into small pieces  - 2 large carrots, shredded - 1 bunch of spring onions, chopped  - 2 Korean brown pears  - 10-15 cloves of garlic  - 1 piece of ginger  - 1 large onion  - 2 cups of gochugaru  - fish sauce  - 2 large tablespoon of honey  - 1/2 cup of rice flour  - 1 tablespoon of scrimp paste  - salt  Procedures:  1) Place napa cabbage into a large container. Add half a cup of salt and 4 cups of water. Soak the napa cabbage for 30 mins.   2) In a blender, add garlic, onion, ginger, pear. Blend into a paste.  3) Add the paste to a large bowl. Add gochugaru, fish sauce, scrimp paste and honey.  4) In a pan, add 2 cups of water and half a cup of  rice flour. Heat up the mixture until it becomes a sticky paste.  5) Add the rice flour paste to the gochugaru ...